See.Sense has been making cyclists over the world a lot more visible (in 76 countries to be precise) for almost 6 years now. LEDs, sensors, lenses, mobile apps and much more have all played huge part in building our reactive lights to what they are today.

Technology moves at such a fast pace, and don’t we all know it! While our team here at See.Sense absolutely love all things smart, digital and software related, we thought we would take a look back to where that technology has stemmed from in the first place... The hardware.

We’ve expanded our inventory massively over the years, from having one product to what is now a full range. With us now heading into the height of winter cycling with much darker conditions, especially after the clocks change at the end of October, we thought now would be a great time to take a look back to basics at some of the LEDs that we use in our brand new ICON2 lights - which are our brightest ‘to be seen’ lights to date. In particular, we thought we would talk about the combination of the focused and dispersed LEDs that we use.

BRINGING ICON2 TO LIFE

The See.Sense ICON2 is based on our much-loved and multi-award-winning ICON light, but updated to include even more brightness and intelligence. Ideal for those longer rides on the weekend or with clubs, ICON2 weighs just 50 grams and comes with 16 hours of run-time, meaning you stay visible and safer for longer.

We have been lucky to have had our very own in house electronic hardware designer, Caleb (photo below) - who is dedicated to components and circuit board design here at See.Sense. Caleb is so passionate about electronics and often spends hours solder in hand bringing our boards to life, literally.

Caleb was heavily involved in the production of ICON2 lights, with the main aim being cramming SO much power and light into such a small unit while keeping an impressive runtime for cyclists.

Our ICON2 lights contain two different types of LEDs, with 300 lumen LEDs in the rear light and 400 lumen LEDs in the front. Let's talk about the LEDs in a bit more detail...

FOCUSED LEDs = BE SEEN FROM FURTHER AWAY

With See.Sense ICON2, we went for a single focused CREE LED at the bottom of the light. The main aim of the CREE is to create a focused BEAM, meaning you will be seen on your bike from as far away as possible (3km in this case). Above the CREE is a panel of COB LEDs which we will talk about soon.

People in the industry can be known to call the CREE the king of LEDs, the best of the best. CREE's are super high-performing, energy-efficient LEDs which provide a crisp, but low-glare output. If you had an original ICON light, you will have seen that they used two twin CREE's.

With ICON2, we have packed so much brightness (and intelligence) into them to keep you seen. With the slightly bigger size, this means we can provide you with the most brightness and runtime possible, making them the light for you if you ride longer distances on your weekends.

DISPERSED LEDs = SIDE VISIBILITY

At the top of the ICON2 light, there is a custom panel of 62 chip on board LEDs (the same as what's used in ACE lights). The COB LED panel gives a wide dispersion of light - giving you 270° of side visibility. Side visibility is definitely something to think about when riding in any conditions. You don't want to be seen from just the one angle with a single focused LED. In the image below, you can actually see the white COBs which are used on all ICON2 rear lights.

“Received my ICON2 today. Wow I'm blown away with both how small and how bright it is” - Daniel Levet.

As COB LEDs are multi-chip packages, they can increase the lighting area significantly and avoid glare at the same time, which is why they are perfect for our lights. Basically, this means that we can offer a super bright light in a small and neat package. 

The combination of the COB and CREE mean that ICON2 is a product that has been hailed by cyclists for its innovative safety features, while also receiving widespread acclaim from the electronics industry.

So you are now a pro in the world of dispersed and focused LEDs! We hope this blog explains a little bit more about the LEDs we use without getting too technical.

You can learn more about ICON2 here and order it with free delivery.